[John Mayberry]

He'll break camp with the Rangers
He'll be sent to the minors
He'll platoon w/ Lamb
He'll be brought up by July if sent down
He'll be brought up sooner than July
He'll be a starter in April

[minnehan]

The St. Petersburg Times reported last Friday that the Devil Rays might be interested in trading for Lamb. If Lamb did leave TEX, the door would be wide open for Hank!

minnehan

Perry's still with Texas, right?

[BC...]

Y'all are alot more optimistic than me. I don't see him getting more than a cup of coffee this year. I mean there is no need for Texas to rush him. I want to see him have a great AAA year. Also, it sounds like the talent in the AFL this past year was the worst in league history.

I expect Lamb to be there this year and go for peanuts. Perry's there to back up and they even signed the fearsome Ed Sprague.

Even if Hank started the year with the job, I wouldn't expect a whole lot. He doesn't bash alot of HRs and doesn't swipe tons of bags and his BA sure wouldn't be .350

IMO I just don't see him up yet.

Now BC, you wouldn't be trying to knock down Blalock's value, would you?

One reason Blalock could start the year in Texas -- or arrive very early -- is because the Rangers are trying to win now, and Blalock will help toward that goal more than Lamb will. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News over the weekend, former GM Doug Melvin said his recommendation to owner Tom Hicks was to absorb the losses one more year while testing out the young pitchers (Davis, Bell, Myette, etc.) and giving the young hitters another year to develop. You'll notice the "former GM" in front of Melvin's name.

The new GM, John Hart, pulled out of the running for the same job with the Blue Jays when he realized their intent to rebuild and opted instead for the Rangers, where Hicks shared his win-now mentality. His off-season additions, and the amount of salary deferred to make room for them all, is clearly indicative of the Rangers' desire to win a pennant as soon as possible.

But back to Blalock, who is, as far as I can tell from the many lists I've seen, the consensus pick as the AL's top prospect.

The power you seem to think he's lacking emerged as the 2001 season wore on. I think he might have hit three homers the first two months of the season but ended up with seven in 237 at-bats in the FSL, 11 in 272 at-bats in the TL and another 11 in 122 at-bats in the AFL. That's 29 in 631 at-bats, about 25 of which probably came in his last 420-450 at-bats. Pretty respectable for a 20-year-old. And the word out of Port Charlotte is that Blalock has bulked up some in the off-season.

I don't expect to see many steals (although he did steal 31 two years ago in Low-A) but I do think he'll hit for a decent average with an exceptional on-base percentage. John Sickels wrote about seeing Blalock play three games for Tulsa last year. Of the 44 pitches Blalock faced, Sickels wrote, "Not once did he swing at a pitch that wasn't a strike."

You could still be right, BC. Every AL fantasy owner was in love with Jose Ortiz at this time last year. But Ortiz, other than one breakout season, had neither the minor-league numbers nor the plate discipline to match Blalock.

I have to think that Blalock's performance, combined with the impatience of Hart and Hicks, should put Blalock in Texas early this year. He may not be this year's Albert Pujols, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's better than last year's Adam Dunn.

[Popfly]

I don't think it will ONLY be Blalock's hitting that gets him to The Show early this season. Just check the numbers under the "E" column in the box scores each day. Mike Lamb already has two in, what, four games in which he has played. Blalock has zero, nada, big goose-egg under that nasty little E.

Blalock has also outhit Lamb so far this spring. Not by much, but he's added the extra base hits (at least one triple, if I remember right).

Watch the trade talk for Lamb heat up if he keeps booting those ground balls this spring and Blalock plays flawlessly. The Rangers may need him as much for his defense as for his hitting prowess.

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[onejayhawk]

To quote a writer who was at the game, "He hit a shot that the Air Force had to fly in and shoot down." He is seen as good enough to fill a hole now. Lamb is good enough that 3B is not considered a hole in the lineup.

[joncarlos]

Posted this in another thread, but I'll post it here too.

Blalock took time to develop his power at the A-ball level. I think it's reasonable to assume it will take him more than 200 ABs to really get a handle on MLB pitching.

IF Blalock makes the roster and gets 400 ABs I would project something like .290-12-50 with a handful of steals. Obviously his 2002 upside is higher but not astronomical - upside would be .300-20-70 or so.

[RCCook]

Originally posted by joncarlos
Posted this in another thread, but I'll post it here too.

Blalock took time to develop his power at the A-ball level. I think it's reasonable to assume it will take him more than 200 ABs to really get a handle on MLB pitching.

IF Blalock makes the roster and gets 400 ABs I would project something like .290-12-50 with a handful of steals. Obviously his 2002 upside is higher but not astronomical - upside would be .300-20-70 or so.

Hank's hit immediately upon every promotion- and showed more power as well. He might have a small adjustment period to the Show, but it shouldn't be worse than Adam Dunn's. I think your projection for this year is accurate, but his upside is far, far higher.

Baseball Prospectus thinks he could be another Chipper Jones, and respected talent evaluator John Sickels has compared him to George Brett for 2 years now. I know those comparisons are awfully premature, but Blalock's going to be very, very good...

[onejayhawk]

The Brett swing that is. My impression Blalock was that more Vlad Guerrero than Brett. Not that that is a bad thing.

RC, how good is his defense? I've heard Tex is state of the art with a glove. If so, why not move the power guy to first.

J

[rotomaniac]

Fellas, I respect the opinions I've read here, but this is the bottom line. Hank Blalock will be the OD starting third baseman for the Rangers. He will be the run away ROY and might even make the AS team.

I also believe that the "other" stud, Teixeira, will force his way into the lineup as an every day player by the AS break. Texas will be wheeling and dealing at the trading deadline to trade off Cat and Greer. One of them may go before hand.

As we approach the end of the season, this lineup may challenge as one of the greatest of all time.

Mike L.

[RCCook]

Originally posted by onejayhawk
The Brett swing that is. My impression Blalock was that more Vlad Guerrero than Brett. Not that that is a bad thing.

RC, how good is his defense? I've heard Tex is state of the art with a glove. If so, why not move the power guy to first.

J

Baseball Prospectus actually made the Guerrero comparison this year; I think Hank has better plate discipline than Vlad, but he's going to be a similar hitter in terms of overall production eventually. As for Blalock's glove, I've heard he's slightly above-average. Nothing to write home about, but he is capable of the highlight-reel play on occasion, and he's loads better than Mike Lamb, who looks like a Joe Randa-type hitter but can't field at all...

Teixeira's defense has been the one thing scouts consistently criticized- his arm is not the problem; rather, he has average range and mediocre hands. That's just what I've heard- his fielding percentages (for what they're worth) were not very good at Georgia Tech.

Blalock had a mediocre rep with the glove when he was drafted, and has put in the work to get better. Teixeira, by all accounts, is a similar player in terms of makeup, and I suspect he'll bust his ass to get better in all phases of the game. The players I hear him compared to as a hitter are Pat Burrell, J.D. Drew, and Lance Berkman. The Berkman comparison is a good one in that they both hit for a high average, have above-average power, and switch-hit. Of course, Teixeira has yet to play one major (or minor) league game, so that's based entirely on what he showed in college.

In any case, if John Hart doesn't get stupid and trade either of them for pitching, we should have two studs in the making to join A-Rod and Michael Young in the infield. Young's obviously the weak link, but he's a fundamentally and defensively sound player, and with the other 8 hitters in this lineup, I think the Rangers can afford to carry one guy primarily for his glove. He should develop into a .270-20-75 hitter- similar to Bret Boone before he went nuts last year on the league...

[Popfly]

Wow! Now that's laying it on the line. I believe that Blalock could be the opening day starter, especially with all the ground balls skipping past Lamb in Spring Training, and I believe that Blalock is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate. All Star, hmmmm, possibly.

This whole greatest of all time thing, well, that's a bit of a stretch, considering that the T-hats are destined to finish third in the AL West. This is also a lineup that has yet to launch a home run in Spring Training (at least through Monday).

Oh, don't get me wrong, they'll hit plenty during the season, but this second coming of the '27 Yankees stuff is a little much.

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[Foot]

Blalock 2-for-5 with another 2 RBIs vs. Yanks yesterday. I agree that it's more and more likely he'll be 3rd baseman Opening Day.

Sometimes spring training numbers DO mean something- look not only at Albert Pujols, but also at Soriano, who absolutely tore up the Grapefruit League last year and convinced the Yankees to give him the everyday job. Think the Cards and Yanks are happy they took a shot on the rookies?

[John Mayberry]

The poll shows that about 2-to-1 believe that he will not be on the Opening Day roster. FOOT brought up a very valid point that both Soriano and Pujols had good '01 ST to help make the rosters.

I'm not a big ST believer because SP are just getting their arms ready and might not even toss anything besides fastballs for 2 IP, but it's not like he's blocked by Chipper Jones.

Opportunity is certainly there.

Hit him at 7th or 8th.

[Popfly]

I still believe that Blalock's glove will get him to the show sooner than later this season, and probably opening day if Lamb continues to put up more E's than RBI. Lamb's been all thumbs in Spring Training and the Rangers have been looking consistently for a defensive substitute for Lamb. Blalock gives them that with little or no drop-off in power and plate discipline.

I agree with John, hit him 7th or 8th and get Lamb's glove off the hot corner.

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[rotomaniac]

PopFly,
Be fair. I never said this was a great team. I said it was a great HITTING team. This lineup features four likely HOF'ers, Pudge, Arod, Gonzo and Raffy and a few all star candidates. I don't believe that any team in history has had four HOF hitters in their lineup at the same time.

The team record for runs in a season is 1067 by the '31 Yankees. I say that record falls this season.

Mike L.

[onejayhawk]

[i]
The team record for runs in a season is 1067 by the '31 Yankees. I say that record falls this season.

Mike L.

I think there may be a thread there.

J

[UnknownRotoGuru]

OPENING DAY STARTER...40-60

RUN-A-WAY ROOKIE OF THE YEAR....0

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR...20-80 (only if he gets 450 at-bats)

MIGHT MAKE THE ALL-STAR TEAM....is this a comedy site????


Gentlemen

I am not one to knock opinions or players, but come on, Hank Blalock is 20 years old. Hank Blalock has played 1/2...as in half....as in 50% of a season of double 'A' ball.

Speaking in terms of THIS season, IN the majors, IN the monster Texas line-up....

HE IS NOT GOING TO BE AN ALL-STAR....HE IS NOT GEORGE BRETT...HE IS NOT ERIC CHAVEZ...CRAP, HE IS NOT EVEN "JOE RANDA" THIS YEAR.

IF, I say if, Hank Blalock hits 15 home runs and drives in 70 bases, this is a great year for a 20 year old playing in the majors.

All I can say to you Roto masters who are going to be bidding 15, 18 or even 20 on Hank Blalock this year for THIS year's stats...

I wish I played in your league.

UnknownRotoGuru

[onejayhawk]

That's the point. Actually Randa is quite a good comparison about his current level of hitting. Lineup around him is better, but the spot in the order is worse. Skills are similar--good average, decent power. That would be now of course. Next year, well...

In other words, not this years Pujols, but maybe this years Soriano. The big knock was that he would start in AAA. The likelyhood of him coming north seems to be growing.

J